Botany and Ormiston Times : Howick and Botany Times Wednesday October 29 2014

Contents

4 — Howick and Botany Times, Wednesday, October 29, 2014
www.times.co.nz
AC2853_HBT
In your mailbox soon –
a new rating valuation
for your property
Auckland property owners will receive their 2014 revaluation notice
in the mail in mid-November.
Revaluation doesn’t impact on the total amount of rates collected by
Auckland Council. It helps us work out everyone’s share of rates, which
is based on the capital value for each property.
The indicative residential trends shown below are based on the
average change in capital value since the last revaluation in 2011.
or less than the average.
Our experienced valuers work together with valuers from an
independent organisation, Quotable Value, to determine a value for
every property.
Valuer-General, who is the regulator responsible for certifying
revaluations across New Zealand.
Find out more:
visit aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/revaluation
or phone 09 3010101
32%
38%
29%
30%
35%
42%
36%
Beachlands
Botany Downs
Dannemora
East Tamaki Heights
Flat Bush/Totara Park
Huntington Park
Maraetai
Indicative average change in capital value since last revaluation – 1 July 2011 (%)
Percentages quoted are rounded to the nearest whole number.
126854-V2
By Chris Harrowell
RUTH Hammond has a deeply personal
story to tell and she’s decided to share it
with the world.
The Cockle Bay author publicly
launches her new book at All Saints
Anglican Church in Howick on Sunday,
December 7.
Entitled, soft whispers... small shouts...
deep waters, it contains writing that
began “flowing through” Mrs Ham-
mond’s mind almost 30 years ago.
“I was lying in bed on a cold winter
night and thought I heard my name
being called three times to wake me up,”
she told the Times.
“At first I thought it was my husband,
but he was asleep in bed beside me.
“A quiet thought repeatedly nudged
me to get up and write.
“Instead, I snuggled under the bed
covers and tried to go back to sleep.
That was 28 years ago.”
Mrs Hammond, a Christian, eventu-
ally gave in to the thought and put pen
to paper.
“What came out is not the sort of lan-
guage I would normally use,” says the
organiser of the weekly Classy Crafts
public market in Howick.
“I would get the first thought written
down and then wonder if that was it, but
it never was.
“It was like something was waiting for
me each time before the next thought
came.”
Mrs Hammond says the “underly-
ing message” of her writing is that God
loves people tremendously.
The morning after she noted the ini-
tial words, she shared it with her then
husband, John Clark. That was on April
8, 1986.
“What I had written touched him
emotionally,” she says.
About 18 months after she began
recording her thoughts, Mrs Ham-
mond’s husband was diagnosed with
terminal cancer.
“Those writings gave him encour-
agement. When he passed on I put the
folder containing what I had written
away for two-three months.
“Later on, I had a couple of writings
that encouraged me to get on with life.
“I then put it all away for 25 years, but
it did come out occasionally if I knew
someone in need of encouragement.”
Mrs Hammond asked a friend to read
her writing and they encouraged her to
have it published.
“I listened, but didn’t obey it,” she
confesses.
Several years later, tragic circum-
stances forced Mrs Hammond to turn to
her own writing for comfort.
“Last January, I went to take my
younger son out for lunch and found he
had died at his home,” she says.
“I went straight into coping mode,
but what surprised me was I had a deep
peace and huge strength.
“I was amazed by it. It’s not at all
what I expected to happen in those
circumstances.”
While planning her son Greg’s funeral,
Mrs Hammond spoke with Reverend
Peter Beck, then serving at All Saints
Anglican Church.
She said she was able to publicly
deliver Greg’s eulogy, but asked Rev
Beck if he would recite at the funeral
service a poem she had written for her
son when he was 18.
Rev Beck showed interest in the writ-
ing Mrs Hammond had assembled over
the years and agreed to read it.
“The next time I saw him he said one
word to me – ‘publish’,” she says.
“I thought maybe I should have a look
at the writings again.
“I read all of them and found them
a real comfort for me in the situation I
was in.
“I can only think of one source of
where that strength could come from,
and I’ve given thanks to God for it every
day.”
Ruth Hammond publicly launches
her book, entitled soft whispers... small
shouts... deep waters, with special guest
Reverend Peter Beck, at 2pm on Sun-
day, December 7, at All Saints Anglican
Church, 17 Selwyn Road, Howick.
It can be purchased at the launch
for $39, or at the Classy Crafts public
market, open 9am-1pm on Saturdays at
All Saints Community Centre, 30 Cook
Street, Howick.
Ruth’s words
offer wisdom
Cockle Bay writer Ruth Hammond has been recording her personal thoughts for
almost three decades.
Times photo Wayne Martin